Final Paradox
The Osgoode Trilogy
Mary E. Martin
iUniverse (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-595-40760-9 (0595407609)
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-40760-6 (9780595407606)
Publication Date: November 2006
List Price: $17.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Harry Jenkins, an honest lawyer, seeks truth and love
in a world darkened by fraud and deceit. Years back, Elixicorp, a
company developing a drug to forestall memory loss, defrauded millions
from Toronto’s elite. But since then, no one has been able to
find the money. This long buried treasure has poisoned the lives of all
who seek it.
His elderly client, Norma Dinnick, teeters between lucidity and madness
in her dark world of paradoxical claims. When she instructs Harry to
sue the other claimants for the Elixicorp shares, one of the litigants
is fatally shot in open court at Osgoode Hall. The murder weapon is an
ornate, silver pistol, which is both a means of betrayal and a gift of
love. Peter Saunderson, an old acquaintance of Harry’s from law
school, surfaces to frame his own wife and lover with the courtroom
murder and to implicate Harry in the scheme.
Harry and his father have been estranged for years. Stanley is found
unconscious at the foot of his cellar steps, a gun in his hand. Waking
from his coma, he asks Harry’s forgiveness for a long-buried
wrong. This ugly .38 calibre gun becomes the means whereby love and
forgiveness is found.
Beset with questions, Harry turns to the beautiful Natasha who guides
him to the answers and an understanding of the final paradox.
Review: Mary E. Martin weaves an intricate tale of intrigue and betrayal in Final Paradox, the second entry of the Osgoode Trilogy.
One doesn't so much read Final Paradox as be drawn into it. There are
only six or so principal characters, the central, but in many ways
least interesting, being Toronto attorney Harry Jenkins. The
interlocking relationships between them are only revealed as necessary
to further the plot. Martin is effective in keeping extraneous
information to a minimum, focusing instead on how a missing stock
certificate has influenced and continues to affect the lives of these
people.
The certificate, and its whereabouts, is central to the story. At some
point in the past, a group of con men made off with millions of dollars
of money intended to fund a new drug company, Elixicorp. And then the
money, and the shares in the company, disappeared. The man entrusted
with both, Arthur Dinnick, died soon after the swindle and his widow,
Norma, now elderly and in both poor physical and mental health, seems
unable or unwilling to help locate the missing fortune.
The story moves along briskly, with Norma filling in historical details
while reminiscing about, or probably more accuractely, retreating to,
the past. The most serious plot hole is the "why now?" question. Why,
after all these years, is retrieving the shares so important? Why
didn't Dinnick's associates take action soon after his death, when
presumably they would have been easier to locate? A credible answer can
be inferred by the reader, but is never actually presented as fact by
the author. And that the book ends without resolving some other plot
points doesn't come as a disappointment, for the enjoyment here is in
the journey.
Special thanks to Author Marketing Experts for providing a copy of Final Paradox for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Conduct in Question
iUniverse (Trade Paperback), September 2005
ISBN-10: 0-595-35820-9 (0595358209)
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-35820-5 (9780595358205)
Final Paradox
iUniverse (Trade Paperback), November 2006
ISBN-10: 0-595-40760-9 (0595407609)
ISBN-13: 978-0-595-40760-6 (9780595407606)
A Trial of One
iUniverse (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-595-68831-4 (0595688314), September 2007
ISBN-13: 9978-0-595-68831-9 (9780595688319)
Omnimystery keywords for Final Paradox ...
Location(s) referenced: Toronto.